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North vs. South

Randy Weivoda
@RandyWeivoda
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Actually, it’s more specific than North vs. South, because Minnesotans don’t necessarily use the same vocabulary as New Yorkers or Vermonters. And there are going to be variations across the South as well, so more specifically, I want to write about the linguistic differences between Minnesota and Tennessee. Some of you know that after living all my life in Minnesota, I moved to Tennessee about three years ago. Even before reading this fine post on Ricochet, I knew that Southerners drank “soda,” not “pop,” so I was ready for that one. But here are a few examples that took me by surprise.

Towmotor. When I interviewed for my current job, the manager asked if I had driven a Towmotor. “A what motor?” I asked him. Yes, I heard right. Towmotor. I said I’ve never even heard of a Towmotor. Then he said “forklift,” which suggests he hadn’t read my resume very thoroughly, because I’ve been driving forklifts since before I had a driver’s license. I’ve never had a full-time job where I didn’t drive forklifts. It turns out that Towmotor was a company that made forklifts a long time ago. According to this article, the brand name was dropped in the 1970s and the factory closed in 1985. But, just as many people call all copy machines "Xerox," regardless of the actual brand, Tennesseans call forklifts Towmotors.

Buggy. That would be a shopping cart.

Toboggan. In Minnesota, a toboggan is a small sled. Maybe you could fit two kids on one, but probably just one adult. In Tennessee, a toboggan is a knit cap. Given that my first two winters here were pretty mild, this never came up until just a couple of months ago.

If you don’t care. Where I'm from, if someone says, "I don't care" in relation to doing something, it means they don't wish to do it. Example: "I don't care to explain to Grandpa again that email and web addresses are two different things." In Middle Tennessee, "I/you/he/she don't/doesn't care" means that someone doesn't mind doing the task in question. Example: "I've got garbage that you could take out to the dumpster, if you don't care."

Maybe there's another one or two that I've forgotten that will come to me later. How about you? How has your vocabulary expanded since moving to another state?

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Discussion (80)

  • EB@EB
    Randy Weivoda (View Post):
    Southerners drank “soda,” not “pop,”

    Actually, Southerners drink Coke - regardless of what they are actually drinking. If someone asks you if you want to go get a soda, what they almost always say is, "Wanna to go get a Coke?"

  • Tex929rr@Tex929rr

    I grew up in Maine but I’ve been in Texas 38 years and lived around the country while in the military. Oddest regional terms:

    In Maine no one said milkshake until McDonald’s showed up in the late 60’s. They were called frappes. My Rhode Island relatives called them “cabinets”. They also called marinara sauce “gravy”.

    I first heard the toboggan name for a hat from an Alabaman (Alabamian?) when I was stationed in North Dakota.

    Everyone says “coke” for soft drinks in Texas, although one old timer called them “soda water”.

    Iced tea is “sweet” or “unsweet”.

    When someone says “I reckon it’s over yonder” you know you are in the south.

    Do northerners know what “bless your heart” means?

  • Randy Weivoda@RandyWeivoda
    ReplyingtoTex929rr

    EB (View Comment):

    Randy Weivoda (View Post):

    Randy Weivoda (View Post):
    Southerners drank “soda,” not “pop,”

    Actually, Southerners drink Coke – regardless of what they are actually drinking. If someone asks you if you want to go get a soda, what they almost always say is, “Wanna to go get a Coke?”

    Tex929rr (View Comment):

    Everyone says “coke” for soft drinks in Texas, although one old timer called them “soda water”.

    Yeah, that was discussed in the Ricochet thread I linked to. While true in some parts of the South, I never hear anyone here refer to Coke as a generic stand-in for soda.

    Tex929rr (View Comment):

    Do northerners know what “bless your heart” means?

    Although the expression is not used all over, I think that most people know what it means.

    Tex929rr (View Comment):

    In Maine no one said milkshake until McDonald’s showed up in the late 60’s. They were called frappes. My Rhode Island relatives called them “cabinets”. They also called marinara sauce “gravy”.

    Cabinets? OK, that one is 100% new to me.

  • EODmom@EODmom
    ReplyingtoEB

    EB (View Comment):

    Randy Weivoda (View Post):

    Randy Weivoda (View Post):
    Southerners drank “soda,” not “pop,”

    Actually, Southerners drink Coke – regardless of what they are actually drinking. If someone asks you if you want to go get a soda, what they almost always say is, “Wanna to go get a Coke?”

    I grew up understanding that soda was CoCola. Anything with fizz -CoCola. Courtesy my North Texan mother. And her 4 sisters when visiting our Vernon, TX grandparents.

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